I know you can make gingerbread at any time of the year, but for some reason I only make them at Christmas.

Christmas and Gingerbread Men just go together, like Easter + Bunnies. Ice Cream + Summer.

I love the way gingerbread makes your house smell like Christmastime.

I’ve used Martha Stewart’s gingerbread recipe for about twenty years now, and I have yet to taste one I like better. Also, it rolls out well and holds its shape when using cookie cutters, so that’s helpful.

This year, I had to adjust the recipe a bit to make it with British ingredients. Treacle instead of molasses. Some folks say the two are interchangeable, but after experimenting a bit, I’m not entirely sure. I ended up with a combination of dark treacle and golden syrup to get the taste that I usually get from molasses back home.

Also, while making these little fellas, I may have whined about eleventy-million times about the fact that Tiny Oven can only bake three at a time, which basically means it took me the better part of four days to bake a double batch of this recipe.

Gingerbread Men 

(makes about 24 4-inch little fellas)

Ingredients:

400 grams plain flour

2 teaspoons ground ginger

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

85 grams unsalted butter at room temp.

120 grams dark brown sugar

1 large egg

½ teaspoon vanilla

85 grams black treacle

170 grams golden syrup

Royal Icing

250 grams icing sugar

10 grams powdered egg whites

50ml warm water

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix flour, ginger, nutmeg, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl beat butter and brown sugar until light. Beat in egg, black treacle and golden syrup. Slowly add flour mixture until just combined. Flatten dough into two circles, wrap each in parchment paper and chill for for an hour. Roll out each disk on a floured surface and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Re-roll scraps to make more gingerbread men.

Bake for 8-12 minutes, depending on desired softness at 180 degrees C or Gas Mark 4. Allow cookies to cool completely before decorating.

Icing: Whisk together water and egg white powder. Add cream of tartar and icing sugar. Transfer icing to a pastry bag with a small tip or a plastic tip with a small hole snipped in the corner. Decorate cookies as desired.

The post Gingerbread Men appeared first on Alison Chino.

Y’all I am not really all in for dieting in January. When it’s cold outside I want the comfort of food.

Real. Food.

But we went home to Arkansas for Christmas and we ate ALL THE THINGS.

And we ate A LOT of all of the thing things.

Like I’ve had to wear my curvy jeans since we got back to Scotland.

So in an effort to have the comfort of food but to take a break from the sugar highs (and lows) of the holidays, I’ve been making these cookies.

They are a variation on these from Minimalist Baker. But better because no dates (no thank you dried fruit in my cookies).

Making (and eating) a batch of these cookies has been our daily after-school routine for about two weeks now.

They are so easy and weensie that even Tiny Oven can make them!

So I thought I would share them with you.

Just in case you need a little bite of wholesome goodness at 4pm every day.

If you use gluten free oats and maple syrup (instead of honey), these cookies are gluten free and vegan!

Also, only 7 ingredients. So easy, yo!

Of course the chocolate chips are totally optional, but why would you ever leave out chocolate!

Bonus! Here’s a quick video of the whole process!

I imagine that if we ever didn’t eat the whole batch in one sitting that these would be great to pack for a hike!

Healthy Cookies

3/4 cup toasted almonds (100 grams)

3/4 cup gluten free oats (70 grams)

1 banana (85 grams)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon honey or maple syrup (15 grams)

1/3 cup natural peanut butter (100 grams)

Ghiradelli’s bittersweet chocolate chips (You could use chocolate buttons in the UK)

Grind almonds in the food processor. Add oats and salt. Pulse a few times. Add banana and honey. Pulse again. Add peanut butter with food processor running until dough comes together. (Might need a teaspoon or two peanut butter more depending on the size of the banana)

Form dough into 28 bite sized cookies. Press chocolate chips in the center.

Bake at 350 degrees F/175 degrees C/Gas Mark 4 for 15-18 minutes.

Enjoy!

The post 7 Ingredient Healthy Cookies appeared first on Alison Chino.

Sometimes you just need cookies and milk.

When it’s been a long day.  When it is rainy.

When you need a little comfort.

These oatmeal cookies are my elementary school day afternoons in one chewy bite.

Backpacks thrown down on the floor, shoes kicked off in the entryway and the smell of something baking to draw us to the kitchen where we would tell Mama all about our day.

My memories of these chunky cookies are strong.

I love to use big chunks of pecans that are freshly shelled in these.  My mama gives me just such a bag of pecans every year and I put them in the freezer and save them for this recipe.  So I can relive the memories.

Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

3 cups oats

1 cup pecans, chopped

Cream butter and sugars.

Add egg and vanilla. Mix well.

Add baking soda to flour and then mix in with other ingredients.

Mix in oatmeal and nuts.

Scoop onto parchment lined cookie sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes until just brown around the edges.

Enjoy!

The post Oatmeal Cookies appeared first on Alison Chino.

Dorie Greenspan has been my hero ever since I had one bite of a World Peace Cookie, possibly the best chocolate cookie in the world.

I am also a big fan of her carrot cake.

So, when my winter cravings turned to molasses and ginger, I looked through the pages of her giant Baking book until I found a recipe with that combination. (Pouring through this book is a lovely, yet dangerous way to spend a Saturday afternoon.)

These molasses spice cookies, though a little fussy in the preparation, did not disappoint.  I resented having to mash out each cookie with a glass, but next time I will take a little more time and mash them even thinner.

I so love the delicate, spicy crunch of a molasses ginger cookie.

Also, when I was shopping with my sister at a restaurant store, I could not resist buying the most ridiculously large jug of molasses. (SUCH a good deal!) So I will be making these many more times.

I’m sure you’ve already guessed that these are also divine with coffee or tea.

Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies

from Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

pinch (small or not so small) of cracked or coarsely ground black pepper (I used 1/4 tsp)

1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup (packed) light brown sugar

1/2 cup molasses (not blackstrap)

1 large egg

about 1/2 cup sugar, for rolling

Directions:

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice and pepper.

In a stand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the brown sugar and molasses and beat for 2 minutes or so to blend, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the egg and beat for 1 minute more. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing until the flour and spices disappear. If some flour remains in the bottom of the bowl, to avoid overbeating the dough, mix in the last of the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula. You’ll have a smooth, very soft dough.

Divide the dough in half and wrap each piece in plastic wrap. Freeze for 30 minutes, or refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (The dough can be kept refrigerated for up to 4 days.)

Getting Ready to Bake:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Put the sugar in a small bowl. Working with one packet of dough at a time, divide it into 12 pieces, and roll each piece into a smooth ball between your palms. One by one, roll the balls around in the bowl of sugar , then place them on one of the baking sheets. Dip the bottom of a glass into the sugar and use it to press down on the cookies until they are between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 to 14 minutes, or until the tops feel set to the touch. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and, if the cookies have spread and are touching, use the edge of a metal spatula to separate them while they are still hot. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to room temperature. Repeat with the second batch of dough.

Storage:

The cookies will keep for at least 1 week in the cookie jar. Wrapped airtight, they can be frozen for up to 2 months.

Enjoy!

The post Molasses Spice Cookies appeared first on Alison Chino.

Last weekend, I helped several friends of mine throw a shower for a precious gal who is soon to marry the son of one of my very dearest friends.

We had so much fun putting this party together, which we had at my friend Rhonda’s beautiful home around the pool.  She and I love to put a menu together, and we have been planning this one all spring.

It was a perfect day, besides being a tad windy, but everyone held onto their napkins while they enjoyed a light lunch and a chance to love on this happy couple.

We plated the food at Rhonda’s bar and set up a table where you could grab your drink and a cookie.  I loved the way this flowed, and as is my preference, lots of this was all done ahead of time!  This leaves more time for visiting with friends at the party.

Taylor and Hayley both have last names that start with “H”, so we used their monogram on everything, which was super fun.  They also love Scrabble, so our decorating master made them a Scrabble pillow and she used Scrabble letters in all the arrangements.  So cutie!

I’ve listed all the recipes below from the party, so you can recreate this yummy lunch if you want!

Tomato and Cheddar Potato Soup

Loosely adapted from Crescent Dragonwagon’s Soup and Bread

2 cups dark beer

6 large potatoes

1 quart chicken stock

3 bay leaves

1 teaspoon basil

1 teaspoon oregano

½ cup butter

1 large onion, diced

2 ribs celery, diced

2 carrots, diced

5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1 28oz can diced tomatoes

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup milk

Tobasco sauce to taste, optional

½ teaspoon dry mustard

12 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Bring potatoes to a boil in the stock and beer.  Add the bay leaves, basil and oregano.

In a cast iron skillet, melt butter.  Saute onion 10 minutes.  Add celery, garlic and carrot.  Cook 10 more minutes.

Add tomatoes and sauces.  Cook until most of the liquid evaporates.

Make a paste with the flour and then gradually stir in the milk.

Add mustard and tobasco (if using).

Stir tomato mixture into the soup pot and add the cheese.

Allow the soup to heat back up after the cheese is added before serving.

Serve hot.

always makes me happy salad

4-6 servings

8 ounces spring mix

1/2 cup toasted pecans

2 cups strawberries, halved

1/2 cup diced feta cheese

dressing:

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup trader joe’s orange muscat champagne vinegar OR regular champagne vinegar with a tablespoon of orange juice

2 tablespoons honey

1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

I use a little hand blender to mix my dressing. It emulsifies it really well. This may be too much dressing depending on how much lettuce you use, but you can always refrigerate the rest and use it later.

Chicken Pasta Broccoli Salad

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast cooked and cut into chunks

1 cup chopped pecans, slightly toasted

8 bacon slices cooked and crumbled

8 ounce Fusilli pasta

1 pound fresh broccoli, chopped

2 cups red seedless grapes, halved

1 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup diced red onion

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1 tsp salt

Boil chicken until done, about 30 minutes. Toast pecans for 5 minutes and set aside.  Fry bacon and set aside.

Boil pasta according to package instructions, drain and rinse with cold water, drain again.

Add broccoli and grapes to pasta.  Mix mayo, sugar, onion, vinegar, and salt together.  Pour mixture into pasta. Combine well.  Just before serving add pecans and bacon and mix well.

Serves 10-12

Beer Bread

3 cups self-rising flour

1/2 cup sugar

12 ounces flat beer

1/4 pound butter melted (1 stick)

In medium bowl combine flour and sugar.  Mix well.  Stir in beer.  Mix well.  Pour mixture into greased, floured 9 X 5 inch loaf pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.  Pour melted butter over bread.  Return to oven.  Bake 15 more minutes.  Removed from oven.  Cool in pan on rack for 30 minutes.  Remove from pan.  Slice and serve.

Farmhouse Punch

46 ounce can pineapple juice

46 ounce can apple juice

12 ounce can frozen orange juice

2 quarts ginger ale

Combine juices.  Mix until orange juice is thawed.  Add ginger ale.  Makes 40 8 ounce servings.

Red Zinger Mint Tea

4 red zinger tea bags

4 large sprigs of mint leaves

Makes 2 quarts.

Martha Stewart’s Sugar Cookies

Makes about 16 large cookies

Ingredients:

4  cups sifted all-purpose flour

1/2  teaspoon salt

1  teaspoon baking powder

1  cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

2  cups sugar

2   large eggs

2  teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:

In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

Use an electric mixer to cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs.

Add flour mixture, and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Stir in vanilla or lemon juice and zest. Wrap dough in plastic; chill for about 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 325°. On a floured surface, roll dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes. Transfer to ungreased baking sheets; refrigerate until firm, 15 minutes. Bake until edges just start to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks; decorate as desired.

Enjoy!

The post Spring Bridal Shower appeared first on Alison Chino.

My kitchen is covered in cookies today.

If you need a few all wrapped up for gifts, give me a holler.

Or you could make some yourself!  They are so yummy and happy!

Tomorrow I will be turning all my baking efforts solely to…

the cupcakes!

Over half of our cupcakes are already sold, so get your order in soon!

alisonchino at gmail dot com

Martha Stewart’s Sugar Cookies

Makes about 16 large cookies

Ingredients:

4  cups sifted all-purpose flour

1/2  teaspoon salt

1  teaspoon baking powder

1  cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

2  cups sugar

2   large eggs

2  teaspoons pure vanilla extractor 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice and zest of 2 lemons

Directions:

In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

Use an electric mixer to cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs.

Add flour mixture, and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Stir in vanilla or lemon juice and zest. Wrap dough in plastic; chill for about 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 325°. On a floured surface, roll dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes. Transfer to ungreased baking sheets; refrigerate until firm, 15 minutes. Bake until edges just start to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks; decorate as desired.

Enjoy!

The post Christmas Cookies appeared first on Alison Chino.

A few weeks ago my husband had a great idea for a fundraiser for his youth group kids to raise money for Snowcamp.

They should sell cookie dough, homemade frozen cookie dough, like you have in the freezer, he says to me.

I try to keep homemade frozen cookies in my freezer, ready to bake when I need them.

So he enlisted three women to mix up three different kinds of cookie dough.

I would take dark chocolate peanut butter, Whitney would take snickerdoodles and a gal at church we affectionately call Mama Flu took chocolate chip.

He told the kids to sell it.  $12 a bag for 2 dozen cookies, ready to bake from your freezer.

$10 a bag would go to their camp fund.

A lot of the fundraisers we do at church end up making one amount that all the kids have to split, so the beauty of this fundraiser was that the sky was the limit as far as how much cookie dough a kid wanted to sell.

I have to say that I was a little skeptical about this whole plan from the beginning.

First of all, Snowcamp is not cheap.

A kid would have to sell 60 bags of cookie dough to pay for camp.  More if you’re a snowboarder.

Secondly, who on earth is going to pay $12 for cookies that you could bake for yourself?

Apparently, a lot of people.

A lot more than three of us bakers anticipated when Taido told us we’d have one Saturday morning with the kids to make them all.

Nearly 300 bags of 2 dozen cookies.  Over 6000 cookies, people.

That’s a lot of dough.

I was in shock when Taido gave me the total last Wednesday night.

I figured I had better get up and knock mine out on Thursday because I had soccer games on Saturday.

Three days later, I was still mixing dough.

I kept closely in touch with the other two gals who were mixing, scooping, freezing and bagging their hearts out.

A few others did runs to the store and to the freezer at church to keep our freezers free for the next batch.

It was all kinds of crazy.

We talked about moving the deadline to give ourselves a few more days,

but Taido was out of town.

Conveniently.

With the help of a few seriously precious kiddos (four to be exact), we made our deadline by the hairs of our chinny chin chins.

And all the dough got distributed to kids on Sunday morning for delivery.

Now that it’s all over, I have a recipe for you.

Now, sometimes, when I give people a recipe they make it and it doesn’t taste like mine.

I don’t know why that is exactly.  They must be changing out ingredients, not using real butter, not mixing their dry ingredients separately, over mixing the dough, or using substandard chocolate.

But I need a few of you to pay close attention.  It’s not hard.  But I need you to master this recipe sometime in the next 12 months.

Because next year, I’ll be looking for some help.

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

Ingredients

2 ½ cups flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks)

1 15 oz jar Skippy Natural Peanut Butter (no measuring peanut butter if you buy the right jar!)

1 ½ cups sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups Ghirardelli bittersweet baking chips

2 tablespoons raw sugar (for sprinkling)

Mix butter and peanut butter in the bowl of a stand up mixer.

Add both sugars and mix until creamed.

Add eggs, milk and vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients (mixed together first in a separate bowl OR just lightly mixed together on top of the wet ingredients is the cheater route)

Beat thoroughly.

Add chocolate chips.

Scoop onto parchment sheets in 1 ounce balls and lightly press with a flat spatula.

Sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes.

OR

Flash freeze flat dough rounds.  (Put the cookie sheets in the freezer for about 20 minutes, or 40 if you’re opening and closing your freezer a whole lot)

Bag them up and pull them out to bake later at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes.  So handy!

Each of those cookies sheets has two dozen cookies on it.

Does it make you just a tiny bit sleepy to think about filling those cookie sheets 65 times?

Yeah, me too.

The post Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies appeared first on Alison Chino.

After a long summer (maybe longer) of eating whatever I wanted I am really trying to cut back.  Plus I’m trying to add consistent yoga back in to my life.  My living room is evolving into a mini yoga studio, which is a mini fulfillment of one of my life dreams!  Super exciting.

But as a result skipping dessert, I am craving it more and more.  Surely this will pass, but until it does, I might be posting recipes of all the desserts I”m dreaming of.

Here’s one I’ve been dreaming about having with my morning coffee sometime soon!

Homemade biscotti is so, so yummy.  I love it with loads of nuts and dipped in chocolate.

Almond Biscotti

Ingredients:

½ cup butter

¾  cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract

¾ cup almonds

2¼ cups flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

Roast almonds for 10 minutes at 325 degrees.  Blend margarine and sugar.  Add eggs, vanilla and almond extracts.  Mix well.  Mix dry ingredients together (flour and baking powder).  Add to wet ingredients.  Fold in almonds.

Divide dough into halves and press each half into a loaf about 1 inch thick and 10 inches long on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake in top third of oven for 20-25 minutes.

Allow to cool for five minutes.  Slice diagonally and lay pieces flat on the cookie sheet.  (I always slice the loaves with an electric knife which makes the cutting fast and easy.) Return to oven for 5-10 minutes (depending on how hard you want the biscotti).  Flip the pieces and return to oven again for 5-10 minutes.

Cool completely.  Store in tightly covered container and serve with coffee or tea!

Chocolate variation:

Remove almonds and almond extract.  Add ¼ cup cocoa into the flour mixture and fold in 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of almonds.

Lemon variation:

Remove almonds and almond extract.  Add the juice and zest of one lemon to the dough when adding the vanilla.

Want more chocolate: Melt chocolate chips or baking chocolate (semi-sweet) on a plate in the microwave and dip the biscotti on one side.  Then set out and allow to dry.

Enjoy!

The post almond biscotti appeared first on Alison Chino.

Chocolate Pecan Cookies made with Dark Chocolate and Whole Wheat Flour

Chocolate Pecan Cookies are not your after school snack cookie.  This cookie is for book club, for your valentine, for your late night trip to the cookie jar.  In other words, this cookie is for adults.  Or mature children, mature being defined here as lover of nuts and very dark chocolate.

When I need to make chocolate chip cookies for an event, my go to recipe is Smitten Kitchen’s favorite chocolate chip cookies.  They are arguably the very best chocolate chip cookie in the whole wide world.  Very. Best.  What makes them so delicious is the chocolate chip to dough ratio is just what you’re looking for in a chocolate chip cookie.  We make these so often that the kids can pretty much make them by themselves now to satisfy their hereditary cookie cravings.

As of late, per conversations with Whitney about how much we love nuts in our cookies, I have adjusted this recipe in a couple of ways that turn these perfect chocolate chip cookies into Alison’s perfect cookie, Chocolate Pecan Cookies.  I have changed the chocolate chips to Ghirardelli’s 60% cacao chocolate chips, which give the cookie that bite that a dark chocolate lover is looking for.  And I have reversed the measurements for the nuts and chocolate.  At this point you are basically just having a handful of dark chocolate and nuts, with a little cookie dough mixed in.  Hot out of the oven, these cookies make me swoon.  But they are also going to hit the spot alongside a hot cup apres ski coffee in Colorado.  They will be clearly marked, lots of nuts in these cookies…you don’t want them.

In case you are concerned about the freshness of these cookies that I made five days ago for a trip this week, I feel the need to share with you this handy dandy cookie tip I have learned from my sister who daily bakes up some of the best treats on earth.

Because she has to get a whole lot done in a short amount of time every morning, she has developed a lot of techniques for doing as much as possible ahead of time without altering the quality of the final product.  Cookie dough tends to dry out in the refrigerator, so she scoops her dough ahead of time onto parchment, flash freezes the balls of dough and then tosses them in a ziplock back in the freezer.  This way all she has to do in the morning is grab the already scooped balls out of the freezer and bake them, a step I saved for the morning before our trip.  This is one tiny little example of the wealth of cooking secrets I have learned from my sister.

Chocolate Pecan Cookies

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup Ghiradelli 60% cacao chocolate chips

1 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped

Beat the sugars and butters together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda.

Stir together the flour and salt, then mix them into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.

Scoop the cookie dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets.

Bake for 18 minutes at 300 degrees, or until pale golden brown.

The post Chocolate Pecan Cookies appeared first on Alison Chino.

Snowball Cookies

3/4 cup powdered sugar (plus more for baked cookies)

4 cups flour

1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups chopped pecans

2 teaspoons vanilla

Cream butter in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Slowly add flour and powdered sugar until mixed in.  Scrape down sides with rubber spatula.  Add vanilla and nuts.

Shape dough into balls on parchment lined baking sheets.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes.

Allow to cool.  Roll in powdered sugar.

Makes about 50 1- inch snowballs.

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